and why`Sharkey`Ward`?

 

I may be wrong but:

Many RN nicknames are taken from a person well know to the public at the time of service who shared the same surname, e.g. Man called Truman or Gwynne or Perry may have been called Fred.
Other names may be 'working' names. These often refer to a previous occupation e.g. A man who was a fisherman before joining up could be called Pedro - Can't think of a Fred though.
Or, If there are too many John Smiths, or whatever, then others will be given working names such as Henry or Fred.

Sharkey Ward is reputed to have been one of the nicknames of a 16th century English Barbary corsair called John or Jack, or Birdy, Ward aka Yusuf Rais, upon whom Jack Sparrow is reputed to have been based.

 

All,
The RN also have many nicknames for everyday items, Tal*** Powder aka "Foo - Foo Powder" is one that sticks in my memory.
People with the surname Kelly aka "Spike".
Yours aye,
slick

 

My nickname in the RN was "Crocket" referring to my name Dave (Davy)

 

Coincidentally our village pub was taken over by RN retd Tug (Wilson) and when I went in for my first pint under the new owner I noticed a sign above the bar Tug & Fred which made me a tad confused.
Fred in this instance was the nickname of Tug's memsahib and ex WRN which as per #1 made me wonder could Fred be some rank or on-board "Andrew" reference.

 

Was that TUG who did all the cartoons in the RN Engineers Review?

 

Only know him as per #6 and there must be many a Tug Wilson in the "Andrew." First class publican though.

 

In the fifties, I sailed with an AB who said that he'd been an RN bosun during the war. He told someone aboard that he'd lost his mate Ralph when he was washed off a raft after their ship was bombed. He never used anyone's proper name, and he called everybody 'Ralph'. We guessed that it was because it was his lost mate's name, but no-one ever asked him. He was a great mimic and you knew he was talking to you if you were in a group, because when he called 'Ralph' he spoke in your accent.

Taff

 

In the Royal Australian Navy we inherited many of the traditional RN nicknames, Dusty Miller, Knocker White, Bomber Brown, Spider Webb, Dolly Gray, Dinger Bell, Nobby Clarke etc etc. but with some surnames there just wasn't an apt fit so we had to be creative. That's how we ended with ; Dildo Pilling, Luscious Lane and Ballbag Wolstoncroft.

 

In the Pilot service at Liverpool we had many nicknames, of which possibly the most unusual applied to the name Green.

Our senior Green was "Bodger"

Next was "Flook"

Next was "Rufus". None were related, but the names came from a cartoon-strip in the Daily Mail. It was well understood that the next Green would be "Trog".

Two brothers named Moore were respectively "Pony" (who was very large) and his younger brother (not large at all) who was "Puny".

Also twin brothers (who shall remain nameless) known as "Poke" and "Smoke" or "Minge" and "Binge" (respectively) - or even Snitchy and Snatchy - but these were never really identified.

In a history of the Service (published in 1949) recorded nicknames since 1766 were, Old Slash, Hurricane Dick, Rocks Ahead, Bowger, Footie, The Black Bishop, Swanny, White Wings, Digger, Gentleman Joe, Wassie, nuttie, The Count, Dan Leno, Nobby, Pop, Tich, Barney, Hans, Spike, Morny, Tod, Tubby, Ike, Curly, Wuffy and Soss.

One reason for so many nicknames was probably the high percentage of Welsh surnames (Williams, Jones, Parry, Evans etc) which called for some convenient differentiation.

 

There is Janner for Cornishmen, and I had to ask a naval friend what a FRISP was, the answer is not really palatable to a certain section of the UK family......

With the surname Rose, for many years my nickname was Rosie.

One time we had three Johns, the mate and a couple of gingerbeers, they were known as Big John, Little John and Paddy John, this would probably be considered as bullying today.

 

Some years ago a batch of deck officers on the QUEEN OF BERMUDA all surname Jones. They were known from the top to down as:

Jones One,
Jones Two,
Jones Three,
Jones Four,
Jones Five.

 

All,
On a RFA a cadet noted for his sleeping ability was known as - "Cot Death".


Yours,
slick

 

A certain RFA engineer was known as Seldom Seen.

Regards

 

Still no Fred except in rhyming slang... Uncle Fred.. Bread.
Mni tks for all yr replies.. 73

 

I knew a Fred who, when we tied up rang his g/f and used to say , "Get ready for Freddie"

 

My favourites from the sea and yards were

Thrombosis
The exorsist
The mirror
The hostage
Victim
The pharmacist (famous in Yarrows for blue joke sweet incident)
A man barely alive
Mussolini
Horrible **** (not so much a nickname than accurate description)
Shawfield
18 months
Fuggly
Bubbles
Dougie Octopus
Dougie dougie
Shooggly dougie
Dougie the hun
Dougie
Numbties 1-3
The turkey
PoD

You can a have a bit if fun figuring some out

 

Three Australian Peters, all ex-servicemen, aboard a cruise trip to Anzac Cove in 2015 and called respectively:
Pete,
Repeat, and
ThreePete ������

Where does "Wiggy" Bennett come from?

 

Where does "Wiggy" Bennett come from?

Wiggy gets a mention here along with others.
https://www.navy-net.co.uk/community/threads/nick-names.33108/

 

#12 . One of our pursers used to call me a FRISP. Supposedly a "Flamin' Right Ignorant Scottish Peasant". Charming indeed.

 

Yes, similar, the version I was told you would need to change the first and last words.(Thumb)
The F & P would remain where they are.

 

We had a guy called M'bosa because his surname was Ritchie.

 

Nicknames

My son in law is called Oscar his surname is Wild his real christian name is Carl.

 

On Rangitane we had engineers Big John, Big Don, and Big Ron, all Scots and I don't recall ever knowing their surnames .

 

Bungalow - Built like a house with nothing upstairs.

Lazarus - A man who was reluctant to turn-to in the morning.

There is, of course, the other Naval naming tradition of the ending 'O'
As in Johnson = Johno, Thompson = Tommo, etc.

Still can't think of a Fred....(?HUH)

 

The Computer - You had to punch information into him.
Boomerang - Asked a question he always replied "I'll come back to you."
A.D.K. - Asked a question he always replied "Ah Don't Know"
Lightning - A chippy who could not strike the same place twice.

 

Bungalow - Built like a house with nothing upstairs.

But plenty down below.

 

Sailed with a steward who, whenever someone told a story, would come up with a better one. His nickname became 'Stopper' - short for gob-stopper - hard to swallow.

Then there was the sparkie on a tanker, who, when we hit the tropics, was the first into short pants, but his socks kept falling down. His name became 'Sparra-legs'.

Haven't seen him for years, thank goodness, but a Simon used to drink with us and garnered the name 'Whisper' - as he rarely shouted.

Taff

 

Some nicknames are inexplicable. My mother was Margaret Ellen but was known to all her family as 'Dolly'. Father was Ronald George Henry and was referred to as 'Jim'. Surely any of the names on their birth certificates would have provided sufficient identification.

Neither of my parents knew the reason why their families only used the nicknames; they had no siblings or close relatives with similar first names, so it wasn't to avoid confusion.

 

My family,Grandad Sam known as Benny,mother Mavis was Benita,father Ernest was Edward,grandmother Melinda was Alice and me,Alastair known as Alan.Names,why bother at all? in our mob.